What Is Law? Is it some sensation or showing, as when things learnt are learnt by knowledge showing them, or some discovery, as when things discovered are discovered—for instance, the causes of health and sickness by medicine, or the designs of the gods, as the prophets say, by prophecy; for art is surely our discovery of things, is it not? Law is discovery of reality; Lawgivers are “apportioners and shepherds […]
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“Epinomis” by Plato
The Importance of Number Of the properties of all the arts, not a single one can remain, but all of them are utterly defective, when once you remove numeration. If you note the divinity of birth, and its mortality, in which awe of the divine must be acknowledged, and real number, it is not anybody who can tell how great is the power which we owe to the accompaniment of […]
Read more“The Histories” by Herodotus
Herodotus was hailed as “The Father of History” by Cicero; To me, he might as well be the Father of Humanism. The Histories is a magnificent epic which excels in scope, structure, richness of content, intricacy and theatrical grandeur. The main theme is the Persian Wars, i.e., the conflicts between the Persian Empire and Greek nations, culminating in the invasion of Greece by Xerxes I; the underlying theme is the […]
Read more“Menexenus” by Plato
An imitation or parody of Pericles’ funeral oration from Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War“. The speaker gives a sketchy and biased rendering of the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, glossing over defeats of the Athenians and exaggerating their merits. There are noble sentiments of devotion to one’s country and honor, but also smug national and racial superiority. The funeral speech exhorts the sons of the departed to follow […]
Read more“Laws” by Plato
Excessive Love of Self Causes Errors of Judgment Whereas the excessive love of self is in reality the source to each man of all offences; for the lover is blinded about the beloved, so that he judges wrongly of the just, the good, and the honourable, and thinks that he ought always to prefer himself to the truth. But he who would be a great man ought to regard, not […]
Read more“Statesman” by Plato
The second dialogue of a trilogy, which also includes Sophist and Laws. The Lawgiver and the Law Law-making certainly is the business of a king; and yet the best thing of all is, not that the law should rule, but that the king should rule, for the varieties of circumstances are endless, and no simple or universal rule can suit them all, or last for ever. The law is just […]
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“Letters to Atticus IV” by Cicero
A collection of letters written by Cicero to his close friend Atticus during his declining years, i.e., the period between the death of his daughter and his own murder, which is also a period of crisis in Roman history, from the fall of the Republic to the rise of dictatorship and the Roman Empire. The letters provide rare insights into Cicero as a person, friend, prolific writer and astute statesman. The […]
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